Many photographs contain handwritten information in addition to the image information. Often this handwritten information is highly useful, interesting, emotional, or has historic significance. In some cases the handwritten notation associated with the print can be more interesting or emotionally valuable than the image itself. In addition the handwritten notation provides a personal narrative context for the image. It is often desirable to make copies of these photographs to create replica prints. The front and back of loose photographic prints can be scanned to obtain digital records of images and handwritten notations which can appear on either surface of the photographic print. Once these digital records are obtained they can be used to create new image products such as reprints, bound photo albums, postcards, greeting card, mugs, t-shirts, videos, movies, animations, slide shows and the like.
Existing document scanning devices such as the Kodak i1220 and i1440 can simultaneously scan both sides of a photograph conveniently providing content from each side in digital form. These scanners are capable of scanning large numbers of prints which enables users to scan large quantities of photographs which in turn creates a multitude of digital files.
Once a user has converted their hardcopy media collection, containing images and handwritten information, into a digital form, new presentation modalities can be provided. Once such presentation modality is a video slide show including a series images presented in a predetermined or random sequence. Typically images are presented in a chronological sequence determined by time/date metadata associated with each image in a sequence. When time/date metadata is unavailable, such as with scanned hardcopy media, the presentation sequence determined by the user, or in a random sequence is used. In addition, the duration of time in which each image is presented is typically a user selectable option and once chosen, the display duration time is used for presenting all images in the presentation. It is well known to produce video slide shows from digital images and many automated organization and presentation techniques have been demonstrated. One such technique is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,649B2, presents images for different durations that coordinate to the beat of accompanying music. U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,297B2 uses time differences between a plurality of images to cluster images into discrete events. These events are then used to create chapters on an optical disk making a navigable series of video slide shows. Pending U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20090094518A1 automatically determines a “image value” which is used to assign a “emphasis score” which is then used to control the relative presentation of images. Images are moved relative to each other in a manner that attracts more attention to images having a higher emphasis score than images having a lower emphasis score. The relationship between images and their associated handwritten information are not considered for use in determining the presentation modalities of video slide shows in these prior art techniques.
Software applications such as Microsoft Powerpoint® are often used by typical consumers to create presentations containing digital images. Consumers can specify the order and control the presentation time of the digital images. Software applications such as and muvee Reveal™ can automatically set the presentation time of the digital content to be synchronized with music. Again, the relationship between images and their associated handwritten information are not considered for use in determining the presentation modalities of video slide shows in these prior art techniques.